24 January 2008

Recently I visited the grave of my grgr-grandfather, James Elzra Shaw, for the first time. On his stone was a symbol I had never seen before. His wife, Katherine, who is buried next to him, also had a symbol on her stone. I tried Google searching both acronyms, but came up with nothing. Today I was flipping through a 1900 Sears Roebuck catalog I have and came to the fraternity jewelry section. There was the symbol I could not find! It turns out James belonged to the Modern Woodmen of America. I still have yet to identify Katherine's symbol. If you recognize it, please e-mail me. The point of my story: you never know where or when you might come across a bit of information, so keep your eyes open!